FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT DEFENSE - PAGE 3

— Andy Reid began Donovan McNabb Week with appropriate and well-timed praise of the guys who'll be in charge of stopping him next Sunday. The Eagles coach took particular care on Monday to point out a job well done by a unit that came into Week 3's 28-3 win over Jacksonville having given up the most points in the league. By the end of Sunday, the Eagles had the league's 12th-ranked defense with an average of 309 yards allowed per game. "I thought our defensive line came out and were very, very aggressive," Reid said.

Every other day, it seemed, Larry Johnson Sr. entered a meeting room with one more injured player. Through it all, Johnson maintained an outward calm. "I tried not to let anybody see that I was struggling because we lost our guys," Penn State's defensive line coach said. "I tried to make it very positive: 'You're the next guy up; this is why you came to Penn State.' You sell that in the room. If kids understand that, it makes them be overachievers. " Despite that earnest effort, Penn State's defense struggled along with its coaches in 2010.

Not since 2004 have the Eagles had a championship-caliber defense. That has become evident in their three playoff losses since that Super Bowl season. The Eagles have given up 93 points in those games -- 27 against New Orleans in 2006-07, 32 against Arizona in 2008-09 and 34 against Dallas last January. Last season, they were outscored 157-75 while going 0-5 against playoff opponents. Kevin Kolb, in his first year as starting quarterback, could be the second coming of Joe Montana and still never get past the first round of the postseason unless they fix that component.

If Southern Lehigh's offense was in mid-season form during Friday night's game against Catasauqua, it perhaps would have coasted after building a big lead early in the first half. But it was the season opener for both teams and coach Tom Falzone's Rough Riders displayed plenty of heart, so the Spartans had to sweat out their first win of the season, 21-0. Two fourth-quarter touchdowns finally sealed the deal for Southern Lehigh. But coach John Toman's defense gets much of the credit for that victory.

PHILADELPHIA — Being out of the playoff race is one thing; becoming an embarrassment is another. Phillies manager Charlie Manuel isn't ready to concede the former and will never allow the latter and that's why he had his team on the field about 30 minutes earlier than normal on Tuesday afternoon, working on basic defensive fundamentals. The Phils only had one error in Monday's 6-1 loss to Atlanta, but had several other mental blunders. That performance, along with the influx of newcomers, may have prompted the extra work.

To the Editor: This is in response to Pat Morales-Poole's letter of July 9, "Ritter on list." Ms. Morales-Poole decries Rep. Ritter's voting history on defense appropriations. She states that the B-1 bomber is an "outmoded weapon that will not enhance U.S. deterrent capabilities." She also questions the value of the MX missile and the Trident II submarines, but she offers no alternatives to aid in strengthening U.S. defense capabilities. The need for the weapon systems is quite apparent; they will replace weapons that are obsolescent if not obsolete.

To the Editor: Many well-informed and otherwise sensitive Americans are remaining silent while their dollars and weapons are being used by the Israelis to brutalize the Palestinians. People who wouldn't hesitate to condemn U.S.-backed terror in Central America or South Africa are refusing to speak out publicly about Israeli policy. One is reminded of the "good Germans" who stood by silently in the midst of the Holocaust and later told their children and grandchildren, "But we just didn't know."

PHILADELPHIA — The single most revealing thread in the Eagles' locker room following Sunday's thrashing of the New York Jets was the gentle acknowledgment by multiple parties, including defensive coordinator Juan Castillo himself, that things were moving too fast for Castillo for a good portion of this season. Castillo, who had no professional coaching experience on defense before being switched from offensive line coach in the offseason, needed time to get his calls correct often enough for his unit to function properly.

Matt Cohen's birthday present came a few hours early. Just a few hours before he turned 24, Cohen, the former Central Catholic High School and Lehigh University football standout, got a chance to again play the game he loves. Cohen, who had not played much in two seasons with the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks, got extensive playing time and made his presence felt in a hard-fought 25-19 Indoor Football League victory by the Steelhawks over the Cedar Rapids Titans. The former All-American linebacker showed he still possessed the hands of a high school running back when he came away with a reception on a two-point conversion and fought hard to the bottom of the pile to recover a Titans fumble late in the game when Cedar Rapids was threatening.